whoopdido

Honestly...who gives a shit? The Lion King is a masterpiece. Kimba the White Lion looks like complete and utter shit.

Everybody steals from everybody so what's the difference?

PopcornTreeCt

Yep.

Giles

the difference is: Disney hold's its product so tightly that anyone who who tries to use it's many characters in print, film, video, performance, etc without permission or portrayed in not a good light, expect a shitload of their lawyers to appear with pitchforks - the AMPAS got in big trouble when Snow White danced with Rob Lowe at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989 - Disney was so mortified it became a major debacle - so it's okay to slam non-Disney films, but to paint Disney negatively is off-base.

Giles

maybe Hollywood needs to take a bigger hint and stop with this remake train.

that's too bad about Apes, since Burton's version really sucked monkey balls.

Ash Ketchum

I think you're being unfair to Kimba. It's a masterpiece in its own right. It was the first color anime TV series in Japan. Unfortunately, we've only seen the English dub version, which was hampered by numerous compromises that NBC demanded of Osamu Tezuka (the original creator and producer of the animation) before it could be aired in the U.S. I would love to see the original series in Japanese with English subtitles transferred from the original Japanese masters. Esp. the second season, in which Kimba grows to adulthood and has children of his own. This season never got a proper airing in the U.S. It was eventually dubbed into English nearly 20 years later by a hack outfit that did a very poor job and was aired only on the Christian Broadcasting Network in 1984 under the title, "Leo the Lion." From what I've seen of it, from cheap tapes found in used video bins, it seems to have been much better than the first season. There have been remakes in Japan, including a well-budgeted feature film anime adaptation in 1997 that's quite good even though, as stated in my earlier post, it consciously echoes THE LION KING.

It would have been awesome to see the credit, "from a story by Osamu Tezuka" in THE LION KING's credits.

One rumor back in 1996 was that Disney's deal to buy up Studio Ghibli's films (primarily Hayao Miyazaki's films) and release them around the world was an act of atonement for ripping off Tezuka.

LorenzoL

Nice argument. Bravo!

DonnachaOne

Let us ponder the irony of slamming Hollywood's recycling and implying praise for Rise of the Planet of the Apes in the same post.

Chrisedge

I watched Kimba as a kid, and I never throughout Disney "ripped" off Kimba for The Lion King. The stories feature young lions. That's about it.

whoopdido

Yeah it is a good argument. How does some Disney suits stealing an idea affect my enjoyment of a movie?

I couldn't care less how movies get made as long as they do and I enjoy them.

Apparently Inception ripped off the idea from Duck Tales. Do I care? Nope.

PopcornTreeCt

Expecting Disney to acknowledge Kimba is like waiting for J.K. Rowling and the producers of Harry Potter to acknowledge Larry Potter. (Yes, that's a real story, google it)

Dragon Tattoo

Kimba! Simba! It's clearly a ripoff! The proof is in the pudding!

bluetoast

I'm a big fan of The Lion King, and haven't seen Kimba...knew about the controversy years ago, and really don't care that much. But I remember reading that Roy Disney straight up called the main character "Kimba" during pre-production. Here is one source that indicates such:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....icle380619.ece

Ash Ketchum

From Box Office Guru:

There's hope for audiences yet.

riley_dude

Wow. Drive did better than Straw Dogs and I don't know how she does it.
Score.

Matthew Chmiel

For those of you keeping track, Rise of the Planet of the Apes has outgrossed Tim Burton's remake on a worldwide scale...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes: $392 million ($172m domestic, $220m foreign).
Planet of the Apes: $362 million ($180m domestic, $182m foreign).

Chances look bleak on Rise... outgrossing the remake domestically unless Fox does a theatrical re-release before BD/DVD or a big push with second-run theaters.

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star dropped 73% in weekend two; one of the biggest drops in recent memory and it looks like it won't pass $3 million domestically. It would've honestly made more money if Sony released it direct-to-video.

Superboy

Have you seen the anime? or read the manga? they're both stories about lion cubs who lose their fathers. That's about all they have in common.

Yes, you can clearly see how badly Disney ripped off Kimba: both covers feature the sun, the sky, the ground, carbon-based life forms, the African Savannah instead of the New York City zoo where all the Lions really are, and a dramatic scene on top of a rock. Because we've seen countless movies where the triumphant hero stands tall in a ditch.

Yes.... people mix up popular forms of entertainment all the damn time. When I used to work in electronics, people would come in and ask for a Nintendo Playstation and so on. That doesn't mean that Nintendo stole trade secrets.

Also, Kimba and Simba aren't just random names. "Kimba" means "she of great faith". Yes, it's actually a girl's name, and it fits the tone of that series much more than the Lion King. "Simba" means "lion". How original, I know. Interestingly enough, "hakuna matata" literally does mean "no worries/anxiety", and in some parts of Africa you'll see signs where lions have been driven from their habitat by man that read "hakuna simba"

Superboy

Considering the movie was so poorly promoted and came off as a vanity project, i'm not surprised it failed.

milo bloom

I hadn't been paying attention after I saw Apes opening weekend, so I'm very pleasantly surprised to see it holding on so well. We should definitely be seeing a new trilogy with this kind of performance.

Mr. Cinema

Captain America has now passed $174 million US, and worldwide it's at $358 million. It should reach $175 million once it's finished in the 2nd run theaters. It'll fall a little short of Thor's $181 million US total, but it still had a good showing. Green Lantern's worldwide total is $219.8 million. I don't think it has any more markets to open in.

Apes still hasn't opened yet in Japan, Italy, or China. So it's a lock for over $400 mil worldwide.